Ecuador’s presidential elections are now headed to a runoff after no candidate secured the support necessary to win outright. The elections followed the shocking assassination of anti-corruption candidate Fernando Villavicencio two weeks ago.
According to the results of Sunday’s elections, two candidates — leftist Luisa González and center-right candidate Daniel Noboa — will move on to the runoffs, which are scheduled to take place on October 15. Under Ecuadorian law, if no candidate secures 50 percent of the vote, or 40 percent with a 10-point lead, the election heads to a runoff.
The outcome of this election could prove hugely significant for Ecuador, which is grappling with a crisis of drug-related violence and serious economic challenges, two issues facing multiple countries in Latin America.
The election itself took place under disturbing circumstances, as the country was still under a national emergency following Villavicencio’s killing and soldiers were stationed outside numerous polling stations. Villavicencio had been the most vocal candidate on the issue of corruption and rising drug violence, and leaders have already tied his death to organized crime.
Whoever wins this runoff will determine how the country opts to approach security policy as well as the economy.
What’s at stake in Ecuador’s elections?
Depending on who wins in October’s runoffs, it could shift Ecuador back to the left, echoing trends that have taken place in other parts of Latin America. González favors an expansion of health care and education social programs, an approach touted by multiple leaders in Colombia, Peru, and Chile who’ve sought to respond to economic frustrations following the pandemic. Her election would mark a change from the current right-leaning president and add to the region’s renewed “pink tide,” which has seen voters once again picking left-leaning governments in part to push back against the previous status quo.
González’s…
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